Long climb for several Chasers begins at Lowe's

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- On paper, the favorites seem apparent going into Saturday night's Bank of America 500 (7 p.m. ET, ABC), as do the long shots. A have/have-not line of demarcation is drawn statistically.

• Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have combined for nine victories at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

• The other 10 drivers in the Chase for the Nextel Cup have accumulated only four wins at the Concord, N.C. oval in the Charlotte area.

• Seven of the 12 drivers in the Chase have never won a Cup Series race at LMS.

Of course, for those seven, this week can also be seen as a glass-half-full scenario, a prime-time race and a prime chance for a breakthrough at the most opportune of times.

And thus far in the 2007 Chase, the word breakthrough has been synonymous with Clint Bowyer. Bowyer, still riding the momentum of his career-first victory at New Hampshire, an event that opened the Chase, comes to LMS third in the points, only 63 points behind Gordon, who took over the points lead via his victory this past Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

"The sky is the limit from here on out for the Jack Daniel's Chevrolet," Bowyer said. "Bottom line is we knew going into this thing we would have to step up our program in a big way and I think we've certainly answered that call."

However, in only three Cup starts at Lowe's, Bowyer's best finish is 19th. He'll start 25th after a qualifying run of 186.374 mph (28.974 seconds) on Thursday night.

"Lowe's Motor Speedway's not a racetrack where I've been particularly successful," Bowyer acknowledged. "We've always run well there -- been up front and run in the top 10; we've just never finished like we've run. We've wrecked a lot there and gotten caught up in stuff.

"We just have to do better. If we can do what we've done everywhere else and improve on our finishes, we'll be just fine."

Tony Stewart has dropped to 154 points back of the lead, into fourth place, but don't forget how he did down the stretch last year when he was outside the Chase field. Two of Stewart's five victories in 2006 came in the season's last five weeks -- at Atlanta and Texas. His only win at Lowe's came in the October race in 2003.

"All we can do is go for broke now," said Stewart, who will roll off the grid in 29th after a qualifying lap of 185.842 mph (29.057). It's been done. Jimmie Johnson did it last year.

"So for us, it's just a matter of not worrying about what everybody else is doing. We just need to go out and worry about winning races now and hope we are where we need to be at the end of the day."

Although winless at LMS, Carl Edwards has some encouraging history there. In five starts, he has four top-10 finishes, including two third-place efforts. Edwards, sixth in points, will start 18th after turning in a qualifying speed of 186.819 mph (28.905).

"Charlotte is going to be a tough track, but a lot of fun. I'm really excited to get back to a track that I feel comfortable at," said Edwards, who will drive the car in which he finished second at California in September. "I'm confident we'll be good. We need a strong finish this weekend to make gains in the Chase and try to move up in the points."

Less-than encouraging is the LMS record of Kevin Harvick, who is fifth in the Chase standings. Harvick is 0-for-13 at the track and has led a total of two laps in those 13 races. (Continued)